The invention relates to a vessel as defined in the first part of claim 1.
Such a vessel is disclosed in French patent publication FR 2465640. With this well-known vessel that is adapted to transfer personnel to and from an offshore structure built on piles, the gang plank is designed to be provisionally connected to the offshore structure by means of a line that is to be “thrown out”. Subsequently the line is “hauled in” to cause the gang plank to extend towards the connecting site. In this case the engagement rod is constituted by a curved rod which is positioned in a horizontal plane.
Throwing out a provisional connecting line is laboreous and also constitutes hazard for the personnel which has to be present at the end of the gang plank and to be coupled. Furthermore, with the well-known vessel, even moderate wave motion will cause the end of the gang plank to move up and down rather extensively, which up and down movements are difficult to be controlled by the inhauling line and thus make it very difficult to complete the connection to the horizontally oriented engagement rod.